(Bloomberg) -- Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fired back at President Donald Trump's continued defense of his tweets this week targeting four freshmen House Democrats of color, comments that lawmakers of both parties condemned as racist.
In a tweet Tuesday, the New York freshman called Trump racist and reminded the president that she was born in his hometown of New York City. On Sunday, Trump issued a series of tweets inviting Ocasio-Cortez and her three closest allies to “go back” where they came from. All four women are U.S. citizens, and three of them were born in the U.S.
The House of Representatives is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution condemning Trump's tweets, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her caucus that the measure will show the president that his comments are unacceptable.
Pelosi described the four freshmen Democrats -- Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar -- as “our sisters,” according to an aide who was present in the meeting.
“The so called-vote to be taken is a Democrat con game,” Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday. Later, at a cabinet meeting, he said of the four women lawmakers: “It's my opinion they hate our country.”
Trump's comments could serve to unify Democrats who have been publicly and privately feuding for weeks since a disagreement about how to respond to the humanitarian crisis of migrants and the U.S.-Mexico border.
Although some Republicans in Congress have joined in the denunciations of Trump's original tweets, GOP leaders have mostly directed their criticism at Democrats, calling their move to condemn the president political. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday that he doesn't believe Trump's tweets were racist.
To contact the reporters on this story: Anna Edgerton in Washington at aedgerton@bloomberg.net;Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum
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